


Obnoxious Guy In The Corner

by Nigaki



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Barista Arthur, Emo John, Established Relationship, It's just cute little fic okay?, M/M, Soft Boys, don't judge me lol, rude customer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:01:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24324697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nigaki/pseuds/Nigaki
Summary: Arthur loves working at his coffee shop. Except when rude customer is trying to ruin his day.
Relationships: John Marston/Arthur Morgan
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62





	Obnoxious Guy In The Corner

**Author's Note:**

> A silly little fic born from this pretty art made by my lovely wife https://whydoihavetotellmyname.tumblr.com/post/618750658497085440/john-marston-going-through-his-emo-phase-fic-by

Arthur knew what he was getting into when he started his little café. He was ready for a lot of people coming and going constantly in certain hours, ordering various drinks or treats and expecting the service to be quick because they’re late for work. It was almost exciting to work like that, be focused on many tasks at once. He loved the rush of a morning crowd because then the period of peace afterwards felt even better after an hour or two of making coffee for dozens of people.

The day slowed down as always when the last customer rushed out, almost spilling out his freshly made coffee when they tried to catch their bus for work. It was almost 10AM, until noon the only customers would be people just taking a walk or workers who weren’t chained to their office and could cross the street to order some hot coffee or piece of freshly baked pie. 

Arthur liked this part of his day, it allowed him to restore his energy and clean after the busy morning, chat with regulars, try out new recipes he would later add to the menu or just relax just like his employers were doing right now in the back where he could hear them laugh sometimes. It’s hard to expect a bunch of teenagers in their first jobs to keep quiet but Arthur liked the noise. He would rather have his workers happy and laughing than miserable and scared of him.

Nobody new came to order anything, and customers already sitting at the tables were still drinking or eating what they ordered earlier. After whipping the counter clean and checking if anything else needed his attention, Arthur decided to catch a breath like everybody else.

“Hey! Can I have my order now that you aren’t busy?!”

Arthur rolled his eyes and turned towards John sitting in the corner with his laptop. He forgot about this obnoxious asshole, dressed in all black like always, with smudges of eyeliner around his eyes, sleeves rolled up to show his tattoos and face full of metal. He was a mess, most of the time he looked like he just crawled out of a dumpster. Arthur liked to call him racoon. John was even as annoying as one and just like racoons, he liked to eat trash.

What a weirdo. 

“You’re paying for it,” Arthur warned him. John grinned and chuckled. His laugh didn’t fit his image at all, it was sweet, unlike John’s whole outside demeanor.

Arthur already knew what John ordered even before the first wave of customers fell into the shop, all he had to do now was to grab everything he needed and start the order. It was going rather smoothly considering it was John’s order and those were never normal, so of course something just had to go wrong at some point.

“Who is the manager here?!”

That never sounded good. Arthur slowly turned towards the very angry lady standing by the counter.

“How can I help you?” he asked politely, checking what might’ve brought her to complain.

“I want to speak to the manager,” she insisted. She had the cup with coffee in her hand, she probably had some complaints about taste. Or she burned her tongue and decided it’s his fault because obviously she couldn’t expect a hot coffee when she ordered one.

“About what?” Arthur kept asking. He wanted to get over it as fast as possible. People like that were always giving him a headache.

“I have some complaints about this place. You let some dirty hobo in!”

“What? Where?”

Arthur looked around but he didn’t see anyone. Did he miss the bell ringing and someone sneaked into the shop when he had his back to the door?

“I want him out,” the woman insisted. She was getting angry with every moment he was doing nothing.

“Who?”

“That hobo!”

“I don’t see any.”

Even if it was some homeless man, Arthur would just give him a free coffee and a sandwich. People like that were no threat, they just wanted to eat, they didn’t come here to take or sell drugs. And they never stayed anyway, so no one could complain about the smell either.

The woman looked into the corner and quickly turned back to Arthur, leaning towards him.

“He’s over there,” she pointed towards the ‘hobo’. “He keeps his feet on the table.”

Arthur checked if this was true. He wasn’t surprised when he saw two feet propped on a table. He wasn’t sure if it was good that those feet were naked or not.

“John, feet off the table!” he yelled.

Lady’s hobo looked up from his laptop, his and Arthur’s eyes locked and without any word, John put his feet on the ground, stretching them under table instead before getting back to his game or whatever he was doing on the laptop.

The lady gasped.

“So you know each other!” she shouted shocked.

“He’s kind of a regular,” Arthur explained with a smile which only angered the woman even more.

“I want him out!” she repeated her previous request.

“Why? His feet are on the ground.”

“I don’t like how he looks!”

“That’s not the reason to throw someone out,” he pointed out but the lady wasn’t convinced.

“I don’t feel safe with him here,” she kept going. “He looks dangerous, like he takes drugs…”

“He’s not taking drugs.” If anything, John was only addicted to adding more stupid piercing to his face.

“And he looks like a kind of psycho who carries a gun.”

“So like, half of Americans,” Arthur noticed and the lady huffed angry.

“And also,” she added aggressively, waving her finger in front of Arthur’s face. “The way he looks makes my coffee taste bad.”

Arthur looked at the lady’s coffee and then at her. Was she joking? She looked serious. Oh god, she was serious.

“Let me get this straight.” Arthur adjusted his glasses. “You want me to throw out another customer because he’s somehow affecting the taste of your coffee with his look?”

The woman nodded. Arthur wanted to walk out and never come back to this job.

“Throw him out or you’ll lose a customer,” she warned him.

“I’m pretty sure I’ll lose one anyway in this situation.”

“And I’ll write about this on my blog. No one will come to your little shop ever again.”

“No,” he refused simply. The lady gawked at him.

“No?”

“No.”

“Unbelievable! Now I really want to talk with the manager.”

“I am the manager,” he informed her which shocked her even more.

“Then throw this guy out, I demand it!” she yelled so loud other customers looked to see what was going on. John remained obvious to all this, or rather he just didn’t care. “What, you would rather have some trash here instead of a nice lady?”

If this was a nice lady, he didn’t want to meet a mean one.

“Excuse me, did you just called my husband ‘trash’?” he asked with a growl and walked around the counter, getting closer to the woman.

“Husband?!” she squeaked and looked towards John. He waved at her, not even turning his eyes away from the laptop. He was smiling smugly.

“Out,” Arthur ordered. The lady only stared at him.

“Out?!” she repeated and took a step back when he got closer. She probably didn’t realize before how much he was bigger than he looked behind the counter. It happened often with some aggressive teenagers who thought they could cause some trouble here because the owner looked like a big teddy bear. “You can’t throw me out!”

“You just wanted me to throw out someone for nothing,” Arthur reminded her. “You insulted another customer, my husband at that. I have more reason to throw you out than him.”

“I’ll sue you!”

“Yeah, yeah.” He heard that a lot ever since he opened, and Arthur’s foster father Hosea and his young apprentice Lenny always managed to sort any lawsuit thrown at the café. 

The woman screeched when he grabbed her by the back of her jacket and dragged her towards the door.

“Let me go, you dickhead! That’s not how you treat a lady!”

“Funny, because you sound like a harpy,” he said mockingly and pushed her through the open door. “Have a nice day!”

Before she could say anything, Arthur closed the door after her. Thankfully, she didn’t get back inside. Arthur sighed and got back to his spot, smiling apologetically to other customers who just shrugged their shoulders and returned to drinking their coffees and eating their treats.

Speaking of coffee and treats. Arthur quickly finished preparing the special drink he was making when the lady interrupted him. When the weird ass latte with banana milk, strawberry syrup and crushed hazelnuts sprinkled on top was finished, he grabbed it along with the slice of pecan pie, and brought it to John’s table.

“Here you go, sweetheart,” he said while placing everything in front of his husband who looked up from his computer and smiled sweetly at him. “Hope your stomach can handle that weird shit.”

“You made it, so it’s not poison,” John noticed and grabbed his coffee first. Arthur grimaced when the younger man took the big gulp and seemed to actually enjoy the taste. 

“Yeah, well, your ideas are poisons,” he noticed. John chuckled with the straw still in his mouth. He looked adorable. “One day I’ll give you your weird order and you will die right on the spot.”

“Guess you’ll have to give me CPR then,” John noted and winked.

Arthur snorted and leaned down to kiss his husband on the forehead.

“Enjoy your coffee, you hobo.”

John was still laughing when Arthur returned behind the counter to welcome another customer who just came inside.


End file.
